Did this tornado last 7 hours?

[Chris Geelhart]

Mattoon/Charleston Tornado of 1917

Of course it did not last 7 hours. That's not possible.

From NWS ILX:

May 26, 1917
A major tornadic thunderstorm took a 293 mile track across central parts of Illinois and Indiana. Once believed to be a single tornado, later study indicated it was likely at least 8 separate tornadoes. The first touchdown was about 20 miles southeast of Quincy. The tornadic storm tracked due east, before beginning a southeast curve near Charleston. The tornado was on the ground for over 7 hours. The towns of Mattoon and Charleston bore the brunt of the tornado. Damage from this severe tornado in Mattoon was about 2.5 blocks wide and 2.5 miles long, with over 700 houses destroyed, while the Charleston portion was 600 yards wide and 1.5 miles long, with 220 homes damaged. Damage in the two towns amounted to about $2 million, in 1917 dollars. 53 people were killed in Mattoon, and 38 were killed in Charleston. Overall, 101 people in Illinois were killed during the tornado outbreak, with 638 injured.

I should probably reword that paragraph a bit on our homepage.

I have been doing some research on this, as I am creating a section on our homepage to mark the 90th anniversary of this event (3rd deadliest tornado disaster on record in Illinois). The part about the tornado on the ground for 7 hours was based on the original 2-state path. The Illinois portion would have been just under 4 hours, assuming it stayed on the ground the whole time. There were a few segments between the Mississippi River and Christian County where it was making intermittant contact with the ground.

The 7 hours was also assuming the tornado curved southeast from Charleston and headed into Indiana. Some of the studies I have seen indicated that the original tornado curved northeast and ended in northeast Coles County, with a new tornado forming east of Charleston and moving southeast.

I have also seen several 7-hour references on this, while doing Google searches on the event.

Chris G. @ ILX